Bump in the Night by Kirsty Bennett has its world premiere at Foxton's Little Theatre on April 28, 2023.
Bump in the Night by Kirsty Bennett has its world premiere at Foxton's Little Theatre on April 28, 2023.
Levin teacher and children’s book author Kirsty Bennett is spreading her wings while fulfilling a teenage dream: producing her own play at Foxton’s Little Theatre.
Though she has considerable experience with theatre, directing her own play will be a first, and stage fright is real, more or less. As rehearsalsprogress, the vision has been taking shape and the fright is making room for excitement and anticipation.
Bump in the Night is a play written for teenage actors and is an old-fashioned whodunit, but has no gruesome murder at the end.
Bump in the Night will be Levin teacher and children’s book author Kirsty Bennett's directorial debut.
“I started this play at the age of 15. I was part of a drama class at the time and we had nine students in the class, hence the nine-actor cast. I developed the play originally for this group, so it had to be redeveloped for the current cast. It came to nothing at the time, so when the theatre asked me to start directing I thought I’d revisit this play. They thought it would be good.
“Writing a play is much harder than writing a [picture] book. Sometimes you forget that an actor is in the scene and much further down the track, you realise there is nothing for them to do or say, so you need to rewrite it.”
The play is about a group of teens being stuck in a library overnight, without internet or cell phone coverage, with bars on the windows (the building used to be a jail) and only intermittent power. “There are ghosts, kidnappings, and some actors will be tied up, but the ending is a positive one,” Kisrty said.
Bump in the Night is a whodunit in the style of Agatha Christie.
It takes about an hour and 20 minutes to sit through and the cast of nine have been rehearsing since mid-February.
Kirsty describes her first play as a whodunit in the style of Agatha Christie, who gets few mentions in the play, but without the murder.
“Foxton Little Theatre has been very supportive, they helped me develop the play, lots of rewrites, and they are now helping me get my dream on stage.”
Bump in the Night is a play by young people, for young people
Nine of the actors are Manawatū College students, some of whom have been in school productions, and two experienced actors complement the cast.
The change from just acting in a play to directing has also brought a lot of challenges, Kirsty said. “There are so many decisions that need to be made, about the music, actors’ hair, clothing, makeup, and set design. The first rehearsal was nerve-wracking, but we are doing well.”
Manawatū College students are involved in the cast.
She’s got a lot of help when it comes to set building - it is awesome, she said - as well as with wardrobe and makeup.
Foxton Little Theatre’s Carl Terry is excited about Kirsty’s direction. He said he is one of only two directors in the crew and has been yearning for more people to share the load. “We could also do with more young actors.”
He said Kirsty is doing very well. “I was delighted when she put her hand up last year to try directing. She couldn’t find what she wanted in our existing list of plays, so suggested she’d try her own. [We] saw her play had potential so we worked together to get it ready. Her play is our season-opener and for the play it is the world premiere.”
This is the first year in a long time he is not doing the opening play himself. Foxton’s Little Theatre does three plays each year and they are delighted Manawatū College has now gotten involved.
Bump in the Night has its world premiere at Foxton's Little Theatre on April 28.
